| Darin Mathis' life has changed dramatically over the past
two years, beginning with the tragic death of his lover,
Todd. Darin and Todd were together for six years, living in
New York City before Todd was mugged and killed a couple of
days before Christmas two years ago. Now living in
Tennessee, away from his family and friends, Darin is
missing Todd more then ever. Thoughts of the upcoming
holiday and past memories drives Darin out of his lonely
apartment to a local dive bar for a stiff drink. Meeting
someone like Ryan while sitting in such a grungy, nasty bar
was the farthest thing from his mind.
Ryan stood out amongst the other patrons. His clean cut
appearance and laid back demeanor felt familiar to Darin,
and for the first time since Todd's death he felt an
attraction to someone.
Only at Christmas is a bittersweet story of
love lost and found. The concept of the story was good but
I felt the delivery of the story didn't flow as smoothly as
the author would have liked. I found certain sections to be
overly descriptive and other sections felt forced into the
story such as the telemarketing dialogue. However, J. L.
Foster did such a good job of portraying the loneliness
surrounding Darin in the opening chapter that I couldn't
help but feel sadness for him, which compelled me to keep
reading with the hope that this man finds happiness.
Darin's loneliness drove him to one of the nastiest bars
ever described where he found a diamond in the rough amid
some unsavory characters in an even more unsavory
environment. Meeting Ryan was fate; a very strange twist of
fate that can happen Only at Christmas and
it's just what Darin needed to start to live again. |
